■ China
Shanghai to get space base
China has begun work on a new space center in Shanghai as part of efforts to extend development and technological knowhow to its most important economic city, state press reported yesterday. The 1.3-billion-yuan (US$160 million) base will test and produce booster rockets, manned space craft and satellite aerial defense weaponry, Xinhua news agency quoted officials from the Shanghai Space Bureau as saying. Many space and aviation related groups around Shanghai will be moved to the base, which will cover around 75 hectares by the end of 2010.
■ China
Monks sign up for MBAs
Call it Zen and the art of business management. Proving that in China's booming commercial hub of Shanghai, even Buddhism is big business, a group of 18 Buddhist monks and lay people are taking MBA classes to better manage their temple, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. The half-year course specially designed by Shanghai's Jiaotong University teaches temple management and corporate strategy, along with marketing religious articles. Monks will also be picking up tips on how to get ahead in business from Sun Tzu's The Art of War, the report said.
■ Japan
Doll thief sentenced
For months last year, a man ravaged shops and restaurants in central Japan, assaulting employees and making away with life-sized figurines of a plump fictional character called "Peko-chan." Yesterday, Hiroyuki Cho, 39, was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for ordering the thefts of the dolls worth ?1.2 million (US$10,900). In May, Cho's partner, Tetsuji Shibuya, was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in jail for the theft of the 15 dolls. The two were charged with robbery resulting in bodily injury. Cho and Shibuya belonged to a national crime ring selling stolen dolls to avid collectors willing to pay top yen.
■ Hong Kong
Woman mystifies police
She appeared from nowhere on a rain-tossed morning, sitting naked on a Hong Kong shoreline, unable to speak. Now the search is on for the identity of the mystery woman, police said yesterday. The Westerner, believed to be aged between 35 and 45, was discovered on Friday on the rocky shore of an abandoned harborside airport runway. Government officials said she had been seen earlier wandering nearby streets. Although the pale and gaunt woman has been kept under observation in one of the Chinese territory's hospitals, she has yet to speak or write her name. "She failed to respond or say a word when out officers or interpreters tried to speak to her," chief inspector Victor Ng was quoted as saying in the South China Morning Post.
■ Australia
Strange contraband seized
Lamb chops, steak and rice cookers were among packages of contraband intercepted by prison authorities in a recent crackdown, an official said on Tuesday. New South Wales state Corrective Services Commander of Security Investigations Brian Kelly said he didn't see the need for visitors sneaking in food or cooking gear for inmates. "Prison food is not that bad," he said. One of the strangest packages of contraband found by officers contained nine lamb chops and a kilogram of steak, Kelly said, adding that it had been thrown into a prison in Parramatta, a western suburb of Sydney.
■ Celebraties
Michael Jackson writes song
Michael Jackson has written a song to help raise funds for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and will soon record it. Tentatively titled From the Bottom of My Heart, the singer plans to ask other musicians to join him in recording it, his spokeswoman, Raymone Bain, said on Tuesday. Jackson hopes to record the song within two weeks in the style of We Are the World, which he co-wrote and produced in 1985 to raise money for famine relief efforts in Africa. "It pains me to watch the human suffering taking place in the gulf region of my country," Jackson, 47, said in a statement. "I will be reaching out to others within the music industry to join me in helping to bring relief and hope to these resilient people who have lost everything." Jackson has been mostly reclusive since he was acquitted of child molestation charges in California on June 13. He has been spending much of his time in Bahrain as the guest of Sheik Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, whose label, 2 Seas Records, will produce the single.
■ Crime
Man shot at rescue chopper
A New Orleans man was arrested and charged with shooting at a military rescue helicopter. Authorities said the bullets apparently did not hit anything. Wendell Bailey, 20, was taken into custody on Monday night by agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The agents were in the neighborhood to investigate neighbors' complaints of gunfire and heard shots from an apartment window as a helicopter flew over.
■ Foreign aid
China ships equipment
China shipped 15 million yuan (US$1.85 million) worth of tents, bedding and generators to the US yesterday to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. The 100-tonne shipment was loaded onto a cargo plane at Beijing's airport and was headed to Little Rock, Arkansas, said Wang Hanjiang, director of the foreign aid department of the Commerce Ministry. "We are showing our sympathy in the face of such a disaster," Wang said. "We are showing the Chinese people's goodwill toward the American people." Pallets of goods, which also included children's clothing, were expected to leave the airport yesterday afternoon. They were wrapped in thick plastic and marked with the words "China donation" and a picture of the Chinese flag.
■ Donations
Athletes open purse strings
Moving from their heart strings to their purse strings, some of the US' wealthiest athletes and their organizations are stepping up to the plate with huge donations to help the hurricane relief effort. Millions of dollars of commitments are being made from the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Football League (NFL). Last week, in the midst of the US Open, players from the men's ATP and women's WTA Tour pledged money and donations of autographed tennis equipment for an auction to benefit the American Red Cross, and financial support. The NBA and its teams on Tuesday said they had committed US$2 million toward the rescue effort, in addition to a pledge to raise US$1 million by the NBA Players Association.
■ United States
Bob Denver passes away
Comedian Bob Denver, who was best known as the nutty castaway Gilligan on the hit TV comedy Gilligan's Island, has died aged 70 in a North Carolina hospital, according to Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday. Denver died of complications from cancer and is survived by his wife and three children. The New York-born actor first rose to fame playing beatnick Maynard G. Krebs on the show The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, which first introduced the US to the counter-culture generation from 1959 to 1963. He went on to play the bumbling castaway Gilligan from 1964 to 1967, becoming a symbol of a well-intentioned but non-traditional younger generation that was emerging.
■ United Kingdom
Oxfam asks for less rubbish
Oxfam has asked Britons to be more selective about items they give to the charity's shops, saying many donations were just "rubbish" that cost ?500,000 (US$920,000) a year to sort out and throw away. "We're so grateful for the incredible donations we receive from the community, but like any retailer there are things we can and cannot sell," said Chris Coe, Oxfam's director of trading. The figure was almost as much as it was spending on projects in Rwanda or Eritrea last year. Coe told BBC radio an example of unwanted goods was a box of assorted false teeth donated on Monday to the charity's store in Wimbledon, south London.
■ United Kingdom
Obi-Wan's robe returns
Workers sorting through party rental costumes at a London fancy-dress shop have discovered the original Obi-Wan Kenobi robe worn by Sir Alec Guinness in the film Star Wars, the shop said on Tuesday. The robe was stored for years in a warehouse by British film costume company Angels and Bermans before ending up with a batch of old monks' outfits in the company's high street party rental shop, manager Emma Angel said. "It's quite a strange looking robe, so when the guys were sorting through the stuff one of them decided to put it on and play around," she said. Another employee recognized it as the robe, and the film's costume designer certified it was genuine.
■ Italy
`Sexy' teacher sacked
A Catholic religion teacher claims her good looks have cost her her job at a primary school in central Italy. Caterina Bonci, described in the local media as a sexy 38-year-old blonde who likes to wear miniskirts, was fired after 14 years teaching religion at a state-run school in Fano. Church officials say the fact that she is divorced makes her unsuitable for the job, as the dissolution of marriage contravenes the will of God. Bonci said her divorce dated back to 1995, and suspected other motives behind the sacking. "If you consider that at our parents-teachers meetings it was always the fathers who came to see me, one can see why I have so often been at the center of attention and a target for gossip," she said.
■ France
Flooding spurs evacuations
Rescue workers evacuated hundreds of people from parts of southern France as heavy rains lashed the region on Tuesday, clogging highways and closing railway lines. The downpour pounded the Gard and Herault regions along the Mediterranean coast, prompting authorities to call in more than 300 rescue workers from neighboring regions to help with the evacuation, local officials said. Half a dozen helicopters were flown in to support a possible rescue effort in the area.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
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